BMW showcases new 3.0 CSL Hommage concept

MUTTER the letters 'CSL' to a BMW enthusiast and they start going all giddy.

Meaning 'Coupe Sport Leichtbau' - or Lightweight Sport Coupe to you and me - any BMW adorned with a CSL badge means a dialling up of the rear-wheel-drive entertainment.

Celebrating its racing past, the German giant has created a new 3.0 CSL Hommage concept car as a tribute to its original 3.0 CSL homologation special first seen in 1972.

The original CSL lived up to its name with an aluminium bonnet, boot and wings, Plexiglas windows and a very thin equipment list to help shave 200kg off its sibling model, the BMW 3.0 CS.

The 3.0 CSL Hommage of today uses carbon fibre rather than aluminium to lose weight, while its mighty wheel arches, spoilers and front air deflector are key aerodynamic elements for air flow and downforce purposes.

Cabin is almost completely carbon fibre-reinforced plastic with an old CSL-esque wood-effect instrument panel

And if you're asking why it's been finished in that garish colour - known as Golf Yellow - historians will remember the original 3.0 CSL sported the same hue (it was the Seventies, after all). More tasteful black, silver or orange were also part of the original CSL's colour palette, but those quirky Germans made sure the fluoro yellow won out.

The concept's giant wheel arches house black 21-inch alloys, and the cabin is almost completely made of carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic with an original CSL-esque wood-effect instrument panel, bucket seats and a steering wheel seemingly inspired by KITT from Knight Rider.

Not much else is known about this concept car, shown at Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este on the shores of Italy's Lake Como, but is believed to be based on the current M4 with an in-line six-cylinder featuring eBoost technology and modern electrickery.

Quite what aficionados will make of this extrovert 3.0 CSL Hommage remains to be seen, but most will agree any future CSL models in the range can only be a good thing.

New 3.0 CSL Hommage pays tribute to the 1972 original homologation special